Jesus Saldanha Lopes

”Jesus Saldanha Lopes, is a sea captain in the Portuguese Navy. In 1989 during a mission in Southampton, he came upon into the “Daring Beast”, a twelve-meters-long mast from the ‘50, which was abandoned at a shipyard after being retired from the service. After almost ten years dedicated to its restoration, in November 2002, the captain  took a year off and, in sixteen months and one day, made a journey around the globe travelling 27 thousand nautical miles, all alone, on a boat that, according to its features, should have been completely inappropriate for that purpose.

This adventure resulted in an astonishing novel, "The Daring Beast" (an inevitable book in libraries of every ocean enthusiast) based on which “Oceanus”, the masterpiece directed by Ridley Scott, was made. Recently, Lopes donated his precious boat to the city of Porto, which intends to establish a museum dedicated to Captain Lopes and to his terrific journey.”